No means no.... they all led the conversations. Once upon a time, and once in a whole since then, I called several schools I was curious about... and had never studied anything (originally). The first conversation lasted far too long and he wanted me to come in to do the contract...The second conversation waved me off, not really having time to JUST TALK with a potential new student. "Come down and take a look, CLICK" The third individual spoke with me and was kind, and simply left the proverbial door open for me if I ever wanted to visit him.

A human being, not a demigod, not an omniscent Mr Miyagi, simply a man talking with a younger person then themselves who was scared to death but fascinated in what they seemed to do...

Its an interesting question... what value does their name have? Not being disengenous, truly not sure I understand the "why" it would be helpful? But, I would think you'd get theirs when you steered them to the specific class they'd learn most from visiting...

"... we have two (X number) of beginner classes for adults one on Monday and the other Thursday at 6:22pm . The parking lot is to the left... park there and simply come through the door.... class lasts for 49 minutes and if you have any questions... anyone can certainly help but please feel free to ask for me, my name is Dannyl... yours is.... ? I'll be more than happy to answer any other questions that come up you might have then..."

As for sir/maam .... perhaps when you meet them, as a "politeness" possibly. But phone formality I think could have certain risks... a personal bias on my part. As for which.... ask, or answer I suppose depends on the personality on the other end of the phone, I would think. If they have questions, "would you like me to send you an email with our FAQ brochure" attached? I could also send it via mail if you prefered, however that obviously takes a lot longer... May I send you one? I can have that out between the next two classes tonight, if you'd like.

Merely my opinion, I could surely/easily be mistaken,Jeff

When it comes to ideas there are no mistakes. You see I know a few people who would be comfortable with that. My door is open to you I hope to see you here, then there are those who don't take that as a sign that yes you are truely welcome. - the e-mail and brochure is a good way to get information out there

Between Titles and Name, I like hear my name said over the phone, it makes me feel like if I tell them something they'll remeber it and the conversation is a bit more relaxed. Sir/Ma'am feels generic but some people like the respectful titles. Thats just my take on that

He noticed that many students from a particular MA school often often wore their school T-Shirt.....good advertising for the school.

But as a LEO he was also aware that such "I take martial arts" advertising is pretty much the LAST thing you want to let people know...that you have skills.....as almost any serious self-defense study will tell you.

"Hey I was just minding my own business when this "krotty" weirdo started hassling me---wearing that "Black Belt Club" jacket/t-shirt--I was scared so I hit him first."

"look at the way he walking around showing off that he was "tournament fighter---he was trying to intimadate me--push me around!"

B-Say something goes down---the first thing some lawyor is going to do is present your t-shirt/school jacket as "proof" your a "trained" fighter........and that his scumbag of client is actually the victem.

C-Might led to escalation---"I hit him with that pipe/stabbed him/shot him because I knew he was a "krotty" fighter-----he was strutting around in that jacket/t-shirt, I was scared everybody "knows" what somebody like that is like---what they can do."

Many of the military officers and esp the special forces folks I know are being told NOT to get visable "military" tattoos these days----makes them targets for the bad guys when they are not on base/out in public.

When your business is Geek Squad its pretty safe to wear the T-Shirt.

When its Jays Karate school---might lead to problems for your students.

Just something to think about.

Edited by cxt (02/22/0810:50 AM)

_________________________
I did battle with ignorance today.......and ignorance won.
Huey.

We're getting off topic, but I will add two cents to that. We have t-shirts that we we wear around often and people really think nothing of it here. There aren't a lot of martial art schools where I live and a majority of time if anykind of fight breaks out its very rare that lawsuits are pressed. Now if it was out in CA or TX. I can understand that, lot more people. North Dakota doesn't have a lot of people

Please stay on topic - What throws up warning flags in your mind when talking to MA school owner (on phone or in person)

And no offense but your getting a ton of free advice from people that know alot more than you do about starting a business.

Out in the real world---people get PAID, and paid well for the freebies you have be getting from all sorts of people.Check out what Graden alone would charge you for similer services.

Something came up that I think a business owner might need to think about and I'm a little more concerned with student safty IN GENERAL than I am with your hypothtical phone calls.

Call me crazy.

Maybe you should be a little less snippy with telling people to "stay on topic."Were already 9 PAGES into what should be a relativly simply procedure.....discussing increasingly hypothetical situation I might add.

If people that are going out their way to provide you with free advice go out on a tangent a bit----isn't it just a little ungrateful to essentially say"

"Hey, what doe s THAT have to do with me making any money????Lets get back to giveing me free advice on how I can make money for myself."

What throws up "warning flags" in my head is when someone OCD's about a single issue of running a business to the exclusion of even wanting to discuss other factors/potnetial problems.The assumption that somebody has EVERTHING EXCEPT phone calls well covered is seldom correct in ANY business.Such blithe assumptions are what is behind the staggering failure rate of any new business.

There is an old joke about lawyer's--the punchline being that when a person that makes $300 an hour wants to talk to you for free----you really should listen.

But that is up to you.

And BTW, if its a new school--what are you comparing it too???And you don't really know where your students might be wearing their stuff either---course if all your students are gradeschoolers---then its less of a problem.

And there are a lot more people than just YOU on this site---might not matter to YOU--but if your in a differnt area--might matter to THEM--maybe.

CXT please don't take that as being snippy, and I don't want to start an arguments. If you feel that we've convered this adquetly then alright lets move on, but don't bite my head off over it. I don't want this going back too all I care about is money.